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Frank Williams: “It was a little disappointing, maybe, in the first few races, perhaps because he was being over-cautious. But lately he has become very competitive and we have just seen the beginning of something exceptional.”

“The season is coming to an end and I have to say that I am very impressed with how our guys have coped with it, especially in the last few flyaway races. Even though we have not had any big developments recently, we have still delivered promising performances.”

Comment of the day

Sunday was cold and rainy as you probably saw on TV. It wasn?óÔé¼Ôäót that it was raining hard, just that it never stopped sprinkling from the night before so the track could never dry out. We were sitting in the very top left corner of the grandstand facing the section between turns 9-10 as if you were facing the stands. You could probably see me standing there if you were able to slow down the footage enough. It really did get quite dark at the end of the race. On TV the cameras amplified all the ambient light but in reality the sun was set already. Lucky they finished when they did.DB

59 comments on Williams back H?â??lkenberg

I read yesterday (think it was on Twitter) that thousands of people who were at the Korean GP last weekend were not paying spectators, but had been given tickets for free in attempt to save face. The more I hear of the South Korean GP, the more I become convinced it was actually held north of the border…

Mark Webber supports Sunderland or at least he used to not sure if he does now!

I’ve been told by a friend (I’m rubbish at following football) that Sunderland mostly seem to be doing alright against the bigger teams but not the ‘easier’ ones so we should really strugle with you guys :P I jest of course, good luck to Newcastle.

in north Korea the spectators would have been forced in at gun point, made to do spectacular dances, and kim Jong ill would have won the race by 3 hours 15 minutes driving Lewis Hamiltons parade car from the Japanese grand prix.

Yeah. If anyone’s interested in North Korea, Vice TV has a very interesting series of online videos of a trip to the country as Westerners. It’s both parallel-universe bizarre, and at the same time terrifying.

The GT series has traditionally ignored damage modelling because of issues with the licencing. Not all manufacturers agree to the includion of detailed damage in the game, and as soon as one does not want it, no cars can have damage. Polyphony Digital have said that it is “important where they do not get into a situation where ne car can appear damaged, but another cannot”. GT5 – the full version, not the Prologue – will be the first time that damage is included in the game, applied to a select number of cars that they have obviously negotiated directly with the manufacturers. There are 200 of these cars, referred to as “premium models” in-game, which will get full damage modelling and hyper-detailed interiors. The other 800 “standard models” will only experience cosmetic damage in the shape of scratches and scrapes and getting dirty, and their interiors will be less-detailed than their premium counterparts (though they will be more detailed than cars in GT5 Prologue). Kazunori Yamauchi said he wanted to apply the damage and interior models to every car in the game, but Polyphony Digital quickly found that they were running out of time and room to do it. They briefly considered dropping it and having every car at what is now the standard level of detail, but Yamauchi didn’t want the work to go to waste and really wanted to include it in some form, so they selected 200 cars to apply it to. I’m a member of GT Planet – the same site as I got that news article from – and let me tell you: this annoucement created a huge stink. A lot of people comaplined about it, threatened to boycott the game unless Polyphony fixed it, and there was even one guy who threatened to kill himself unless every car in the final game included premium modelling. And this was six months out from the game’s release. Considering that it took Polyphony two whole years to render a two and a half kilometre circuit in Madrid, applying premium modelling to every car was never going to happen, even if they had the space to do it. Really, you ought to be thankful for what you get. Polyphony could have easily decided to cut it all. After all, they seriously considered it.

Yes. And they complain when the game is delayed (which most GT fans assume will happen), compeltely missing the point that the game has been delayed to finish it. The sensible ones among us ask them if they’d rather play a buggy, incomplete version of the game now or wait to get a perfect game … and most of them think the game is finished now, and Polyphony/Sony are just screwing with the fans because they can.

As a fan of the GT series, I honestly believe that when I play GT5, I will be playing the best game that they possibly could have created. GT5 is made by perfectionists who are trying to create the ultimate driving game. Money for them, is a secondary concern. And that is what will make the game so good.

We as a family,were shocked and dismayed too,I was crying for an hour.Even now,when the happy Italian anthem is played I expect to see Schumi jumping about on the podium.

So very glad he is back though,as it all seems to be falling back into place again with his driving..He was awesome,and hope he will be again.I recall when his mother died just before a race from an accident,both the Schumacher brothers raced that day in black armbands.I thought what they did was heroic.
I hope Michael realises that there are genuine Schumacher fans in GB cheering him on.We will stick with him through fire and water for what he gave to us all “back then!”

When I first heard that Schumi was coming back to F1 I thought ‘why is he doing this to himself?` And I thought I was proven right when he wasn’t as succesful as he was in his last season before the ‘retirement’, but now I see things differently.
I know that it’s not only about winning.
For me, Schuhmacher still is the greatest F1 driver ever and just like you said, Dianna, he gave so much to the sport that we all should be thankful that he’s back.

As someone who has been an active reader of your blog more or less since it started it is disappointing with your new found celebrity status that you are turning your nose up at the very people who made you what you are, the loyal readers. I guess you are too busy lapping it up with appearing on SkyTV and Talksport and being invited to parties to have time for the readers mate :( the fans made you what you are it will be sad if you turn your back on them like you seem to be doing.

I sent in a polite question last night via email about your designer of the previous incarnation of the blog but you chose to ignore that, remember who made you fella, US.

I have no idea what Keith is up to, but I would assume that most people with a life would not be at their computer 24/7 (and especially not on a Friday night)

Who knows what he was up to, but in any business I have worked in, a TIMELY reply is 2-3 BUSINESS days. Why don’t you learn some manners, be patient, and wait a little while before hopping on to the poor dudes website and bleating on about how you haven’t received your reply straight away.

If after 5 days you haven’t received a reply, send a PRIVATE email reminding him of your request, giving him the chance to save face (and also giving the person who runs a website you claim to enjoy the benefit of the doubt).

If after 14 days you still haven’t received a reply, then it might be a good idea to post a message in the comments to the effect of “Hey Keith is your email working? Did you get my messages?”

If after that you get no reply then maybe its time to start getting rude on a message board.

Instead you jump head first into being a complete pillock, and slander someones good character because he had the temerity to not instantly reply to your non-urgent request.

If this was my website I would use your IP address to track you down and slap you in the face with a cold, dead fish. Learn some manners, and get used to the fact the whole damn world does not revolve around you.

Here, in Melbourne, Australia I’ll be doing some more home renovations as it pours down with rain. It’s a long weekend for us, the Melbourne Cup is run on Tuesday making it a four day weekend (at least for me, I’m not working Monday), still Im more excited about the forth coming weekend and following the progress of the Brazilian Gp.
@Mark Thompson maybe you can buy Keith a pager so he can respond to your beck and call or maybe you can take the advice of CarsVsChildren and learn some manners.

That article about Sir Stirling Moss was very interesting. I’m still amazed by the kind of accidents that drivers can just shrug off and be back in the car for the next race. Stuff like Alonso at Interlagos ’03, Luciano Burti at Spa ’01 or McNish going through the barrier at 130R in ’02. I’m sure the force of Sir Stirling’s impact in Goodwood was far lower, but it still put him in a coma.